Window to the Stars
Kitt Peak National Observatory, the world’s largest collection of telescopes, is located high above the Sonoran Desert on the Tohono O’odham Reservation, 55 miles southwest of Tucson, AZ. Home to 22 optical and two radio telescopes, the observatory represents dozens of astronomical research institutions and is operated by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). The attraction is ideal for student group travelers interested in science and astronomy.
In 1958 Kitt Peak was selected as the site for the national observatory and was built through a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The land was leased on a perpetual agreement from the Tohono O’odham tribe. The observatory with 23 telescopes is the largest, most diverse gathering of astronomical instruments in the world. The most famous telescope at Kitt Peak is the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope, the largest solar telescope in the world. Kitt Peak is also famous for having the first telescope, an old 91 cm reflector, which was originally used to search for near-Earth asteroids.
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Asteroids are diverse and numerous solar system objects, from the large number of objects in the main asteroid belt to the relatively small near-Earth population. Understanding their physical properties is essential to understanding the evolution of the solar system, and asteroid morphology is a complex field in its own right. The histories of individual asteroids, and particularly near-Earth objects, reflect continuous interaction among their shapes, rotation states, and orbits due to the effects of radiation pressure. Radar astronomy has provided detailed information on the orbits, sizes, shapes, rotation states, and composition of many asteroids. To improve the capabilities of asteroid radar observations, I have developed the technique of radar speckle tracking. The echoes from different points on the surface of a radar target interfere with each other, producing a pattern of bright and dark speckles across the surface of the Earth. Using radio astronomy techniques, I track the motion of speckles between several ground stations during a radar experiment to accurately determine the rotation state of the target. Speckle tracking is a powerful tool both to determine the orbital evolution of near-Earth asteroids, particularly potential Earth impactors, and to survey the overall physical properties of the asteroid population. In addition, I have studied applying the techniques of adaptive optics and radio interferometry to asteroid science. These will become more useful with the next generation of asteroid-detecting surveys and the construction of large sub-millimeter interferometers. Interferometry in particular will soon be able to survey the entire asteroid belt.
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